Barry Zito is creating a strong market for his services by looking sharper every time he throws.

Any given spring training game will see scouts from other organizations hanging around, so it can be difficult to tell when teams are interested in a player and when they are just window shopping.

The more Barry Zito throws this spring, the more interest he s getting from teams that don t have the overload of starting pitching the A s do. Some teams are still window shopping, but more and more it seems that clubs in the pitching doldrums see Zito, throwing harder and with better break on his curve, as a potential solution to what ails their rotation.

Could the A s use Zito? Sure they could, if they wanted to hold back one of their younger starters, say Jesse Hahn or Kendall Graveman or Chris Bassitt. That s not Oakland s style, though. General manager Billy Beane isn t above adding an older arm to the mix – Bartolo Colon, anyone? – but he was already satisfied with his rotation when he issued an invitation to spring training for Zito in February.

Zito, the winner of 102 games for Oakland from 2000-06 is one of Beane s favorites. And when the left-hander was shopping his services this winter after taking the 2014 season off following seven long years with the Giants, the A s looked. Although they didn t see an obvious spot in the rotation for him, they saw opportunity.

They are giving Zito a chance to create a market for himself. He s done just that, including three innings in relief Friday that lowered his ERA to 3.09 and stretched his streak of scoreless innings to seven in his last two games.

He would have remained in the game against the Dodgers for the 10th inning if Oakland hadn t won the game in the ninth Friday 3-2 on a Luke Carlin RBI single. And once Zito didn t get that chance, he went to the bullpen and threw an extra 15 pitches just to build up starter s arm strength.

Sometime in the next two weeks, the A s probably will announce that they ve traded Zito to a club that needs pitching. Contenders like the Red Sox, Yankees, Nationals and Dodgers all have the need of one more starter. Yes, the A s could offer Zito the chance to pitch in the minor leagues and wait his turn, but that wouldn t fall in line with the club s history. He s in camp to show other teams what he can do, and once he s done that, they re going to give him a chance to pitch for a team that needs him.

The A s could use him as a reliever, but Zito has always been a starter, and the left-hander is being given starters innings, three and four at a time for now, so that he can build up to starting.

Along the way, the club might be able to add a prospect or two in exchange.

It s not a bad deal for either side. And it s one of the more intriguing stories of the A s spring training camp.